Cirque du Soleil is coming to Zurich in 2018 with its "Totem" program. This time, as usual in the Cirque, everything is one size bigger.
The story
The term totem refers to the ancestors and comes from Native American mythology. This production by the successful Canadian circus thus deals with the evolution of mankind. From the start as an amphibian, the audience travels to the Neanderthals, to primates, until they arrive at today's Homo sapiens with a cell phone to their ear and the dream of flying fulfilled. A scientist tells the story. He is accompanied by a person who has a special connection to the animals at the various stops.
The artistry
Totem" features 46 artists, including musicians. Numbers on the Russian parallel bars, static trapeze, contortion, unicycling, roller skating and artistic gymnastics form the cornerstones of the program. The performances impress with their interplay of music and costumes, which consist of over 750 pieces.
The moving city
While Cirque du Soleil's productions now also include shows in arenas, "Totem" is performed in a traditional circus tent in Zurich. And of course
The tent city at the Canadian empire is also a dimension larger: 78 trucks are needed to transport the tent city, and all the material weighs more than 2,000 tons. There is the normal circus tent, the reception tent, the kitchen tent, office tents and the artist tent with make-up areas, dressing rooms and gymnastics equipment for rehearsals. There is room for over 2,543 people in the auditorium, almost 300 more than at Circus Knie. "Totem" is the first show by Cirque du Soleil that was conceived for a performance in a circus tent as well as for a show in an arena.
The empire
It reads like the story of a dishwasher: Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 from a small group of 20 street performers in Quebec, Canada. Today, the company has 4,000 employees (including 1,300 artists) from over 50 nations. Since then, the shows have thrilled over 180 million people, one of which took place in 1992 in cooperation with Circus Knie. The current 18 different circus productions are no longer the company's only area of expertise: Cirque du Soleil designs shows for Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show, the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow and organizes concert tours for musicians, most recently Helene Fischer, who performed five times in Zurich's Hallenstadion. Where are the Canadians heading now? Chinese investors have had a stake in the circus group since 2015, opening up a new market for the empire. The company's mission will then be pursued there: To activate the imagination, provoke the senses and arouse emotions.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
6.9.-14.10.18 Zurich
TICKETS
